Research design of this study

In this study, the researcher found accordance with Miles and Huberman (1994) who state that their ontological position towards research is that of “transcendental realism”, in which they are aiming to build theories which account for a real world which is bounded, as well as being “perceptually laden”. Transcendental realism thus aims to account for events as opposed to simply documenting what has happened, and look for an individual social process – or structure which lies at the core of events and can be ascertained to provide a causal description of the “forces at work”. As such, this research is not solely concerned with finding a hard core “law” which Miles and Huberman support is problematic due to the human factor of perception; it is more looking for tendencies – forces and causalities.

“Transcendental realism” therefore most closely reflects the ontological approach taken in this research. The epistemological approach is similar in that it is supported by the notion of

“transcendental positivism”. While, in this research, the philosophy falls into both categories as in “transcendental realism” neither a solely quantitative nor a solely

qualitative approach applies. Trochim (2006) holds that quantitative and qualitative data are, at some level, virtually inseparable. Neither exists in a vacuum nor can either be

considered totally devoid of the other. Trochim (2006) holds that to ask which is "better" or more "valid" ignores the intimate connection between them and supports that both

qualitative and quantitative methods are needed to do good research.

This research is intended to explore both the topic of community participation in a news service context as well as a uncovering whether socially and technically deterministic stances can be used to better understand technology adoption within this context. Therefore, within this study, the researcher is supporting the philosophical approach of determinism in the understanding of human nature, as shown in the Research Philosophy Section Summary (3.2.6). Because measurement items for both of these sets of constructs and the sets of constructs themselves have to be developed for this research, it was deemed necessary for the researcher to use qualitative methods in the first instance. Trochim´s (2006) supports

that qualitative research excels at "telling the story" from the participant's viewpoint, providing the descriptive detail that sets quantitative results into their human context”.

Thus, for the first part of this research, an exploratory, qualitative approach is suited.

However, in the second part of the study, the researcher is aiming to broaden the findings through using a larger sample. To this end, the use of quantitative methods is supported.

This research uses deductive research methods in this study. In the exploratory part of the research, questions were generated by the researcher based on previous findings for both the generation of the community and domestication items. The concepts which the

researcher was interested in testing in the final stage of the research were developed from a review of the literature and then testing of these concepts through on online survey for community items and confirmation of domestication concepts using focus groups (quantitative and qualitative methods). In the explanatory part of the research, the

researcher employs the deductive approach of measuring variables using an instrument to obtain scores as described in section 3.2.5. Using both approaches in a study represents a mixed methods design, a specific form of which is adopted for this study and is described in section 3.3.1 below.

3.3.1 Mixed Methods Approaches

The approach which has been chosen as most appropriated for this research is a sequential mixed method design (Onwuegbuzie and Teddlie, 2003). This is a design in which one type of data provides a basis for the collection of another type of data. Creswell (2009) indicates that sequential mixed methods procedures are those in which the researcher seeks to

elaborate on or expand on the findings of one method with another method. Creswell (2009) supports that sequential mixed methods research can begin with a qualitative interview for exploratory purposes and follow up with a quantitative larger scale survey in order to generalize results. Sequential mixed methods can be used to answer one type of question by collecting and analyzing two types of data, and inferences are subsequently

based on the analysis of both types of data. A sequential mixed methodology was deemed most appropriate in this study as the research uses data from a first, dual part, qualitative study in order to refine questions for the second, qualitative part of the research.

Table 3.1, following, shows the aspects of the different approaches to research, and is used by the researcher to support the selection of a mixed methods approach in this study.

Philosophical

Table 3.1 Comparison Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Research Approaches (adapted from Creswell, 2009)

Following this mixed methodological approach supported by Creswell (2003) data

acquisition took three forms. Two phases were performed in the exploratory research stages to determine measures for the online community model construct and for the domestication theory stages employed in this research. The following diagram adapted from Churchill (1979) shows the steps which were used in this research.

Figure 3.2 Scale Development Process in this Research

Domain Scale refinement steps, Churchill (1979)

Scale refinement steps in this research

Define